This one is for you Bob and Corey!
The day started off great with nice sunny weather and pretty calm seas for the Pacific. Swells really didn't peak over 9 feet. Most of them averaged around 4'. We're getting ready to fish out of the Flyhooker. The owners used to live in Seattle. Great operation and had a wonderful time. If you need a recommendation, this is it.
www.flyhooker.com After a short 15 mile run, we found the tuna. Hmmmm, smoked vac-packed tuna. Yummy! No big ones, but most were of the football variety. Yellow tails and bonitos were common. No dorados, which was a real bummer. That was the one fish I really wanted a live photo of. Oh well.
Filling the cooler up with tuna, we went in search for Mr. Stripped Marlin. We went 2 for 3. Didn't take long for the 1st marlin to be caught. Was in the 160ish pound range. I let my buddy, who's never really fished before, land the first fish. This fish swallowed a surface tossed live bait and was hooked in the gills. This fish eventually died on us and was kept by the crew. Major bummer.
With 10 minutes of fishing time left, LastChance Parker hooked in to another nice 160ish pound marlin! Yee Haw!
This fish went out and down, pulled out about 400 yards of line and I played tug-of-war for about 30 minutes. Had blisters on all my fingers when we finally got it to the boat. My fish was tagged and released, as it was hooked in the corner of the mouth and in great shape. No blood was seen coming from the gills (kiss of death for a marlin).
My buddy isn't that good on the camera, but this is what he managed to take.
Time to let this big fella go!
With a tag in it's back, away this fish went.
Finally, we gave our left over bait to the pelicans and birds in route to the Marina. In all, a great day on Big Blue. Have fun Bob/Corey, and I can't wait to see your photos!